The Three Broomsticks
by abbeysworld
Summary: Hermione is tired after work and sometimes just needs to go and relax before getting home to her beloved, yet irritating boyfriend - Ronald Weasley. She goes to the now quiet Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade to have a nice drink and sit and go through her leftover work in piece. That is, until an old face walks in and for some reason, she doesn't want him to ever leave.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_"All that you desired, when you were a child  
Was to be old,  
Now that you are here, suddenly you fear  
You've lost control,  
Do you like the person you've become?"_

It had been a tough day in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Hermione Granger was completely drained of energy. The Investigation Department, where she worked, was flooding open with new inquiries of dark magic being used more than usual and Hermione and the rest of her department were working closely with the Aurors to find out the reason for the attacks and more importantly, who was carrying them out.

After hard days at work - which was basically every day at work - Hermione would head off to The Three Broomsticks to have a calming drink and sort through leftover work. The Three Broomsticks wasn't quiet on week nights and was a whole lot better than the Leaky Cauldron. She was seen as a regular there by the staff and everyone else there was pleasant to her as well. She was sitting sipping on her butterbeer, reading through statements of people who witness these new dark arts attacks when she here's a very familiar voice ordering at the bar. She looked over her shoulder for a peak and saw Draco Malfoy, leaning on the bar, head down. She turned back around and went back to her work.

Draco took his drink from the bar and looked around the pub he had once came to in his youth. In the corner at the back, he saw a bush of hair. He knew that bush from anywhere. He walked over and sat his drink down on the table and took the empty seat across from Hermione Granger who looked up at him, surprised.

"Do you mind if I sit here, Granger?" Draco asked her with a sly smile.

"Well I don't have much of a choice do I, Malfoy?" Hermione spat. Interruptions were her pet hate, especially when it was people she wasn't particularly fond of.

"Oh don't be like that," he said. "I thought we sorted things out after the war, no?"

Hermione looked down and nodded. "Sorry."

"It's okay, I can see you're working."

"Yeah," she put the documents back into a folder. "It's so much work it's hard to handle sometimes."

"Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her age, has _too much_ work? I never thought that was possible!"

Hermione laughed and Draco smiled. She relaxed back into her seat and took a sip of her drink.

"So what brings you here?"

Draco's face suddenly goes dark and Hermione fears she's hit a nerve.

"Everything is a little bit of the mess at the moment, that's all," he admits and takes another drink of his firewhiskey. "I thought that after the war and being trialled and what not that everything would be okay but it's far from it."

"You work for the Aurors though, surely that's good?"

"See that's the thing, you're right. I work for the Aurors but I'm still not an Auror. They still don't trust me and it doesn't help that all of these attacks are happening again. A lot of them are starting to suspect me yet again and I swear, Granger, I've not done anything. I let that stuff leave me a long, long time ago."

Hemrione nodded but was sceptical. A report she read did mention a blonde male being apart of an attack. They sat in silence for a while, taking sips of their drinks.

"So how is everything with you, Granger? Part of the Golden Trio, life must be going good."

Hermione shrugged. She didn't expect him to ask her anything about herself. And the funny thing was, he didn't say it with spite, he said it with genuine interest. Yet, she wasn't sure to trust him.

"It's going alright," she lied.

Nothing was alright. Her parents stayed in Australia so it was hard to get to them easy, Harry and Ginny were busy with work and each other so she had not too many to turn to when things with Ron got bad. Which was almost all the time. Ron hated how much Hermione worked and he wanted them to be more than partners, he wanted to get married but Hermione cared too much about her work at this time to worry about creating a family. Her and Ron just didn't have the same love and care they did. She still loved him as a friend but her true love for him was fading.

She noticed Draco studying her.

"I'm not sure I can believe you, Granger ," he replied with a smile. "But I understand if you don't want to tell me anything. I understand, I'm still the enemy."

"It's not that," Hermione said quickly defending herself.

Draco laughed, "It's fine, Granger, really."

A few hours went by where Draco and Hermione just reminisced and spoke about their lives now. Hermione still never really opened up about how much of a disaster her life was too. Draco was more open with her than she expected, however. He told her about how hard it was to get a normal life, how people would walk away from him, his Father dying, his fiancé, and his Mother both living under the same roof. He told her almost everything and Hermione found it difficult to blame it on the drink as it wasn't even half way finished.

"I really am sorry about everything, Granger," he said as the clock edged towards nine o'clock.

"I know, Malfoy, it's fine. Everything's okay now."

"But it's not," he half laughed. "It wasn't my choice to do anything I did at Hogwarts. My parents, they were the ones that influenced how I acted towards your type and just my attitude. I didn't mean to be like that. I'm not like that anymore. I'm just so very sorry on how I treated you."

"Draco," Hermione smiled, mainly at his shock of her calling him by his first name. "It's alight, I forgave you a long time ago."

"Thank you," he smiled back.

* * *

**First chapter! **

**I've been on fanfiction for a long time and I always start stories and never see them through but this one feels different. I've actually wrote a plan for this one so I am super excited to write it! I hope you all like it!**

**Abbey x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_"Your crooked love is just a pyramid scheme  
And I'm dizzy on dreams  
But if you ask me two's a whole lot lonelier than one  
Baby we should have left our love in the gutter where we found it."_

Draco was suddenly reminded as to why he had left Malfoy Manor that night and ended up in the Three Broomsticks with Hermione Granger. He walked through the doors of the Manor and could hear what sounded like a war going on upstairs. There was a flash of red light from the hallway on the landing upstairs and he shot up the stairs to stop the commotion.

"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY THINGS AND RAISE YOUR WANT AT ME I CAN ASSURE YOU I AM GOING NOWHERE!"

Narcissa Malfoy's voice rung through the Manor and Draco approached his mother and fiancé with great caution. There were clothes and broken pieces of an ornament spread all along the floor

"What's going on?" he asked them both sternly as he watched his mother stand at the threshold of her bedroom door and Astoria stood opposite her, wand raised.

"You're_ fiancé_ has decided to try and move me out with force! I am going nowhere Draco this is my house as much as it is hers!" Narcissa snarled at Astoria.

"Why is your wand raised?" Draco roared at Astoria. No one raised their wand to his mother.

"She was getting aggressive," his fiancé replied, sounding defiant.

"I'll not have _anyone_, especially you, raise their wand to my mother," Draco walked over to her and took the wand away from her. "What is your problem?"

"She's interfering with us! She's too old to live in a big house like this! She's controlling and possessive and she needs to lighten up a little."

Draco had to remind himself to keep his cool. He loved Astoria but sometimes he wanted to hate her. She was rude, stuck up and still thought the dark arts were okay. They were not okay.

"Just get out of my sight," Draco muttered to her and reluctantly Astoria left the scene and went to their bedroom.

Draco turned to his mother who look disappointed.

"I thought that girl would be nothing but respectful and a good influence on you," she sighed. "But it turns out she brings nothing but the bad out in you."

"I know," Draco replied and bent down to pick up the clothes on the floor and followed his mother into her room.

"Just sit them on the bed, love."

He did as she said and then went back into the hall. "_Reparo_," he mumbled and the broken ornament was resorted to its normal state. He gave it back to his mother who was sitting on the bed.

"Your father bought me this when we first got engaged," she sniffed. The ornament was of two people, a man and a woman, facing each other whilst holding hands. It was made of black marble. "He would never admit it, but he bought it in a muggle shop he passed by when going into the Ministry. I saw it one day myself and it just made me love him even more for even going into a shop like that."

Draco sat next to his mother and held her hand as she silently sobbed. He knew she would never recover after his death but she was managing. It was the weakest he had ever saw his mother and he didn't like it. He didn't like how Astoria hadn't helped ease his mother's pain but only caused more grief in the household. Even the house elves didn't like Astoria she caused that much drama in the Manor. His thoughts about the house elves then diverted to Hermione and he felt himself smile a bit.

"It'll get better," he kissed his mother's temple, "I promise. Now I think I'm going to go into one of the spare rooms for the night. I'll see you in the morning, goodnight."

He left his mother alone in her room and made his way to one of the many extra bedrooms in the Manor. He undressed himself and slid into the silk green sheets and thought about his meeting with Hermione earlier on that night. Her hair may still be bushy but she really had changed. Her eyes were still a loving chocolate brown colour that gave only warmth and friendliness but she was definitely more beautiful than the last time he saw her which was during the Battle of Hogwarts where she had several cuts and bruises all over her. She had certainly developed around the breasts but he had to remind himself that he had a fiancé, a woman he loved and wanted to marry. Her personality didn't help his slight attractiveness towards her. She was so kind to him and understanding he just wished he had been nicer to her during their years together at Hogwarts.

He dismissed the thoughts he was beginning to have about Hermione and decided that it was just a coincidence the two of them meeting and it certainly wouldn't happen again. It was a one off. He had to focus on the real problems in his life: Astoria and the accusations that he was involved in the Dark Arts yet again.

* * *

I couldn't help but write another chapter! I hope you enjoy it!

Abbey x


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